Keep the Faith..........

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods. "What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!" he said to himself.

As he continued walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes. Turning to look, he saw a 7 foot grizzly charging towards him.

He ran as fast as he could up the path. Looking over his shoulder he saw that the bear was closing in on him. His heart was pumping frantically and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear raising his paw to take a swipe at him. At that instant the atheist cried out: "Oh my God..."

Time stopped.

The bear froze.

The forest was silent.

It was then that a bright light shone down upon the man and a voice came out of the sky saying: "You deny my existence for all of these years, teach others I don't exist, and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"

The atheist looked directly into the light, "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps, could you make the BEAR a Christian?"

"Very well," said the voice.

The light went out.

And the sounds of the forest resumed.

Then the bear lowered his paw, bowed his head and spoke:

"Lord, bless this food which I am about to receive and for which I am truly thankful. Amen."

World Wide Market Declines, from Victor Niederhoffer

There has been much talk in the media these days about declines in world wide markets, especially that the Arab ones might spill over into ours. I took the liberty of looking at the some 350 (depending on how you account for overlapping indexes on the same market) stock markets followed by Bloomberg in Asia, Europe, Africa, Middle East, and North and Latin America. I find that 340 of them are up year to date, with the average of about 8%. Here are the downs, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Nigeria, Kuwait (-12%), Bahrain , Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, (-35%), Taiwan (-1%), South Korea ( -1.5%), Jamaica. I query to what extent a good first quarter all around is predictive of other quarters, and whether there are any gravitational effects around. and to what extent this backdrop is factored into the public consciousness.

Jim Cramer

The King of Boo-yah is doing a real job for GE at CNBC. Ratings are up and it has been fun to watch how the show has been tweeked by his handlers and probably himself.

An entertainer he is. Nothing more. His decade run of 24% per year was accomplished by paying massive commissions to the Street. His wife, a former Steinhardt trader, taught him most of what he used to garner that "first call" by analysts and the hot IPO allocations put him on the map. He earned it, yes. The clients really paid for their performance by allowing him to throw their money (commissions) to the Street. Massive commish.

What's not like? Capitalism at it's finest. What a great planet, even Spitzer had money in there.

One thing Mr. Cramer does allow in his new book, that I agree with wholeheartedly, is that no matter how rich one gets, it surely can't come near the joys of fatherhood and a loving family.

Illegal Immigration

These politicians all casting stones about immigration issues should be jailed. Every single one is to blame. Call it what it is, learned helplessness.

Lack of a 3rd political party to get things done has hampered the effort. One of these years we will have a real party to contend with, the LATINO party.

Hang on, it will get real good from here. The party is in formation now.

Hythiam

Terren Peizer, boy wonder at my old employer, Drexel Burnham Lambert is getting a whole lot richer today. I wonder if he still talks to Michael Milken, another billionaire in Incline Village?

Home Depot

I try to shop Home Depot versus Lowes.......but the 2005 compensation of over $27,000,000 to Mr. Nardelli, the former GE honcho who runs the retailer was over the top. I ALWAYS get a sick feeling at check-out.

a Monday funk.................

Brawling with my internet provider on various issues is a no-win situation.

Maybe Microsoft and WalMart are making a move after Friday's big volume is digested on a rather boring Monday.

Native America Calling.............

I will be on the program; Financial Fitness on Native America Calling that is scheduled for Thursday, March 23rd at 11:00 a.m. (Mountain Standard time).